Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke Delivers Remarks Announcing Environmental Justice Investigation into Alabama Department of Public Health and Lowndes County Health Department

Remarks as Delivered

Good morning.

My name is Kristen Clarke, Assistant Attorney General to the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. This morning, I am here to announce that the Civil Rights Division is opening an investigation to review whether the Public Health Departments of Alabama and Lowndes County, Alabama, have engaged in unlawful racial discrimination in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Title VI prohibits recipients of federal funds from discriminating on the basis of race, color or national origin.

Our investigation will focus on whether the Alabama and Lowndes County health departments operate their onsite wastewater disposal program and infectious diseases and outbreaks program in a manner that discriminates against Black residents of Lowndes County. We will look at whether the health departments’ policies and practices cause Lowndes County’s Black residents to have diminished access to adequate sanitation systems. We will also review whether the health departments’ policies and practices cause Lowndes County’s Black residents to disproportionately and unjustifiably bear the risk of adverse health effects associated with inadequate wastewater treatment, such as hookworm infections.

I want to begin by providing some context about Lowndes County, Alabama. Lowndes County lies between Selma and Montgomery in an area that has historically been called the “Black Belt.” Lowndes County residents are predominantly Black and low-income. The median household income in Lowndes County is roughly $30,000. Many of these residents live in unincorporated rural parts of the County that are not connected to the municipal sewer system. This means that residents must install and maintain their own private septic systems, subject to state permitting, a task made more difficult by the virtually impermeable clay soil of the region. Approved septic systems that can operate effectively with the heavy clay soil of Lowndes County can cost up to $70,000, putting these systems well out of reach for most Lowndes residents.

In the absence of viable wastewater disposal solutions, for generations, many residents have had little choice but to resort to the practice of “straight-piping” bathwater, fecal matter and other waste away from their homes. Straight piping is a method of guiding human waste away from a residence using a series of ditches or crudely constructed piping systems. This straight-piped waste then spews into trenches and pits formed in residents’ backyards or in the surrounding woods and open areas. During rainstorms or flooding, this fecal matter and other raw sewage can back up into the residences’ sinks, toilets and bathtubs. Without effective septic systems, the heavier rainfall and flooding exacerbated by climate change saturates the impermeable soil and the waste matter has nowhere to go. It remains on the surface or backs into County residents’ homes.

Why is this problematic? Raw sewage contains disease-causing pathogens, including viruses, bacteria, worms and protozoa. Diseases resulting from exposure to raw sewage can range from stomach flu and upper respiratory infections to potentially life-threatening illnesses, such as Hepatitis B. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, human fecal matter in soil can be a breeding ground for hookworm. The CDC advises that this parasitic infection can be prevented through effective sewage disposal systems. At least one peer-reviewed study by researchers at Baylor University in 2017 found a hookworm outbreak in Lowndes County tied to poor sanitation.

The conditions in Lowndes County have drawn national and international attention. For example, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights recentlyt visited Lowndes County and criticized its severe lack of adequate sanitation and wastewater management.   

The Civil Rights Division has received allegations made on behalf of Lowndes County residents that the Alabama and Lowndes County Health Departments are well aware of the disparate burden that Black residents of Lowndes County bear in accessing safe wastewater management systems. We have also received allegations that the health departments failed to carry out their responsibilities to abate raw sewage conditions, thereby placing Black residents of Lowndes County at higher risk for disease. Based on our careful and thorough review of those allegations – and an extensive review of publicly available information – we find significant justification to open this investigation now.

 Again, we are opening this investigation under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Title VI and its implementing regulations prohibit recipients of federal financial assistance from discriminating on the basis of race, color and national origin. Recipients are also prohibited from administering their programs in any manner that results in a discriminatory impact or in discriminatory treatment on the basis of race.

This investigation is historic. This investigation marks the Department of Justice’s first Title VI environmental justice investigation for one of the department’s federally funded recipients. Our investigation will be independent, thorough, and fair. As part of our investigation, we will seek to examine a wide range of relevant information, including through document, we will conduct interviews with parties, and site visits; we will also engage with subject matter experts and others as needed. We have not made, and will not make, any legal conclusions until our investigation is complete. And we’ll will seek to work cooperatively with the state to establish solutions to any problems our investigation uncovers. This is consistent with Title VI’s requirement that we make concerted efforts toward voluntary resolution of problems identified. We hope to partner with state officials to find solutions to the challenges facing Lowndes County residents.

As emphasized during the current COP26 climate summit, the ongoing pandemic and climate crisis compound the environmental, health and infrastructure challenges of faced by our nation’s most marginalized communities. Earlier this year, President Biden said “our country faces converging economic, health and climate crises that have exposed and exacerbated inequities” and he further directed our agencies to “secure environmental justice…for disadvantaged communities that have been historically marginalized and overburdened by pollution and underinvestment in housing, transportation, water and wastewater infrastructure and health care.”

Indeed, America’s overburdened and outdated infrastructure systems have drawn national and international attention. Today, communities of color disproportionately bear the brunt of health problems and other types of harm caused by pollution and inadequate infrastructure. Nationally, Black Americans are 75% more likely than other Americans to live in a fence-line community near hazardous waste. They are exposed to 1.5 times as much air pollution.  

To be clear, advancing environmental justice through enforcement of our nation’s civil rights laws is a top priority for the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice. Ensuring that federally funded grant recipients comply with the non-discrimination mandate of Title VI is a responsibility we take seriously. Our team of career attorneys from the Civil Rights Division will conduct this investigation and they will coordinate their efforts with other federal agencies and the local United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Alabama. We will bring all of our resources and expertise across the federal government to this matter.

In closing, I’ll note, sanitation is a basic human need. Bold action is needed to ensure that no one in this country is unjustifiably subject to illness or harm resulting from inadequate access to safe sewage services by federally funded state and local governments. The Justice Department is committed to fully enforcing our federal civil rights laws to address the legacy of environmental injustice that we face across the country. That commitment includes the failure to provide basic wastewater infrastructure in historically marginalized and overburdened communities of color like Lowndes County, Alabama.

Thank you.